‘Working together to improve our village’

Chairman: Nita Pearson 20 Springfield, , , LE67 8LT. Telephone: 01530 223434 mail to: [email protected]

Visit our website at: www.friends-of-thringstone.org.uk Twitter address: @Thringstone2 MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 5 JULY 2018 AT CHARLES BOOTH CENTRE

Present: Nita Pearson, John Brindley, Ray Woodward, Bernard Lee, Mike Statham, Gillian Bates, Maureen Simm, Pat Hubbard, Ron Hill, Dave and Julie Everitt, Anita Jones Apologies: Geoff and Jane Wilson, Shirley Gordon, Bill Enser, Anne Statham, Pat Darby, Janet Stevenson, Ann Petty, Nigel and Mary Roberts

Discussions/Decisions. Council’s Green Shoot Grant – We put in for the bulbs discussed at the last meeting and are waiting to hear whether we are successful. Music Festival at centre 4 August – We will be having a stall at this event to try to get new members and sell publications. Does anybody wish to help with this please? We will have to put the gazebo up, then it all starts at 1pm. Set up is before 11am, and take down at 5pm. At the moment it is Ann running this, as Nita is marshalling the event. Maureen said she could potentially help. The centre is doing a wine or what stall and need wine for this. Dave and Julie Everitt brought 5 bottles of wine along. If anybody else would like to donate some wine for this stall, please contact the centre direct. Maureen said she would donate some wine. Bellway road names – Amongst the names used for roads was the name Rennocks. Two of the children of Frederick William Lawrence Rennocks came to the opening last year. He was born on 23 July 1887 and died in June 1963, and was the only one of the 4 men honoured who survived the war. He won a military medal. We have been told that John Rennocks, one of these children, died in May. His relatives are forever grateful that he got the chance to come to the opening to honour his father’s name. Monthly litter pick total – 161 bags against 164 for the same month last year. The council has removed the litter bin on Main Street by the Fortnam Close estate due to it being misused and people putting household and DIY waste both in it and around it. At this moment in time they will not be replacing the bin. They said if you (Nita) ‘ would like to leave your litter picked bags in a place where they can be collected NWLDC will arrange that on a Tuesday and Friday they are collected for you.’ Nita has replied that isn’t the point, and why can’t we have a larger bin. People are now leaving items such as settee cushions by the bin outside the hairdressers and also in the bin at the top of the church jetty, and mattress springs by the bin outside Thringstone Members’ Club. Dave Everitt has also challenged the council’s decision and is meeting with them tomorrow to discuss resiting the bin elsewhere. Memorial Project – We continue to work on this, and had a meeting with the consultants for the project with a view to tying their exhibition in with our event on 10 November. We hope we have been successful in this respect. 1 Hello Heritage event – 15 September from 12noon until 5pm at the centre. We have asked David White to do a slide show after the event from 5.30pm until 8pm, and hope this will be successful. We need people to agree to do some baking for this event………… A huge thank you goes to Ron Goacher for letting Nita borrow his Times archive folders this last month. Ron has copies of anything which mentions Thringstone from the inception of the paper through to 1979. Nita has scanned a lot of stuff, taken many many notes and increased the size of our archives as a result. Marking the end of WW1 – 10 November. So far involved in this with FoT are Royal British Legion, WI, Historical Group, the art group, Tigers WW1 website, and Leicestershire VCHT. The scouts have also expressed an interest. As mentioned previously, there will be a concert and dance at the end of the evening provided by Foresters Band. This is a totally free event. Maureen said she would like to be kept informed of this, but hoped that the RBL secretary would contact us to make arrangements. Mike said that there is still a banner in the centre for the 1914-18 event we did 4 years ago. This might be useful to be used again. Grass Verge Booth Road – the grass verge on Booth Road has been missed a second time by the county council grass cutters because it isn’t on their map as requiring cutting. This was reported as a complaint to county hall. An email reply was received stating that they were still uncertain as to whose responsibility it was to cut the grass and would reply when they had investigated further. Centre news – Holly Kerley left as business development manager on 28 June. Some interviews have already taken place to find a replacement with others happening shortly. In the meantime, May Chadwick has had her hours extended to provide cover in the office. Mike said that the calibre of applicant was good, but they were not yet sure when the new person would start. It was mentioned that it might be an idea to have another open evening at the end of the year at which the new person could be introduced. John Brindley asked about the cancelling of the recent comedy night. It was explained this was unfortunate, but would be rescheduled for 21 September, and all the necessary information on the cancellation had been passed round to media and social media about the cancellation. He said it had not reached Lbro Echo.

Chairs Report Letters received: Emails received: Various from people with whom we regularly share information. Emails sent: Various to groups and individuals as usual. Promotion: We have 528 twitter followers, which is 6 more than last month, and 615 facebook followers, which is 8 more than last month. We are continuing to post details of local events, public notices and also historical photos on both sites, and Nita is also posting stuff on the Coalville History facebook site. Nita has also posted details of our forthcoming history events to the What’s Around website and sent details to Community Voice and Ashby Life and posted on NWLDC’s What’s On, as well as facebook and twitter . A press release sent with 2 photographs to the Coalville Times relating to the litter pick with Consortio Security was printed on 15 June. Photographs of this event have also gone to our webmaster and been posted on our Litter Action UK pages. Other: Nita attended the Community Roadshow event at Coalvlle Library to help promote the group. Ann, Janet and Nita manned a stall for the group in the Miners Gala tent at Picnic in the Parks. Three people said they have historical information to share with us and we are now waiting for this to come through. Photos were taken and have been sent to our webmaster. We have two new members – John and Trish Brindley. Welcome to them.

2 Finance Report

Gen Fund held 1st of month (bank + petty cash + float) £2,899.15 Income Expenditure Memberships £10.50 Broadband 10.50 Raffle 11.00 Death certificate £6.00 publications £36.50 Donations £3 total income to general fund £61 £16.50 Total general fund at month end £2,943.65

Publications Report The following publications were sold at the Miners Gala/Picnic in the Parks – 1 x Thringstone and its people, 1 each of memories 2, 3 and 4, 1 x World Ward 2, 1 each of Born and Bred 1 and 2, 2 Scottish in Thringstone and 1 Durham Miners. This totalled £30.50. A man called David Amos, who is a research assistant in Coal and Dialect at Nottingham Trent University, was very interested in our Scottish and Durham books, bought both, and then scanned the front covers and put them on his twitter page with the following comment ‘Picked up these two interesting booklets at the Coalville Picnic in the Park/Miners Gala event at the weekend - Memories of North-East and Scottish miners who migrated south in the 1960's to work in the pits around Coalville, Leics. These are a cracking two booklets. More projects should be done like this to show how and why people move for economic reasons.’ Nita subsequent to the event sold a pubs book to a lady with family connections to pubs in the village.

Web Report – minutes for June are yet to go on site, together with photos of the centre’s launch and our stand, plus photos taken of the litter pick with Consortio Security and the Miners’ Gala.

Police Report We sent details of the following to the police:  A family on Melrose Road had their children’s trampoline stolen on 18 June. They posted photos of the CCTV footage taken of the people responsible on facebook.  Nita and a colleague from Neighbourhood Watch should have had a meeting/crime preven- tion launch at Thringstone Co-op last week with police representatives, but it was cancelled at 10.30am on the day of the 12pm meeting by Karl Hall, the loss prevention advisor for Central England Co-op, because apparently someone from the police was unable to attend.  We understand that in early June, just prior to closing, someone went into the Co-op and stole meat. This person was both aggressive and rude. We are unsure whether this was reported to the police.  There was a house fire on Coverdale in Whitwick in the early hours of 25 June to which 3 fire engines attended. The fire was located on ground floor, and seems to have started with a problem with the freezer and spread to the electrical cupboard in the utility area. The family were painting and had taken down the fire alarms. 4 breathing apparatus, 1 hose reel jet and 1 carbon dioxide extinguisher were used and 5 reptiles were rescued from property. Fire was extinguished and ventilation took place. Further hotspots found in roof 3 space and a 3rd appliance was requested for further breathing apparatus. Hotspots found in loft space using thermal imaging camera. We received the following reply: ‘Nothing too major to report, Low level thefts, criminal damage and vehicle crime. For the area we have a patrol plan follow including in Thringstone We’ve got a crime figures system hopefully coming live soon which can be accessed through Po- lice.UK and search for the area and will pass you restricted info and numbers of all crimes in the area. I wasn’t aware of the crime prevention meeting personally but please let me know of any other meetings and see if I can attend due to my shift pattern and any other commitments With regards to the stolen trampoline, nothing from what I can see on our system has been repor- ted to us. We only deal if it gets reported to us. If those people involved want to report it via 101 they can report it. Also not had anything reported to us from the Co-op. However they should have retail packs to record it and then send it to us.’ Discussion took place on the amount of drug packets found in the village, issues with policing and also bike riding and rabbit shooting in the woodland. The police are aware of all these issues.

Community Report and What’s On Hermitage Leisure Centre ran a cup cake sale on 15 June for Alzheimer’s research and raised £353.82. Sue Colledge said she would make this up to £360. Well done to them, and thank you to everybody who went along to support this. 6 July – Black Horse, Whitwick – Area 51 in concert from 9pm. These are also playing at the music festival. 6 July – Conny Club, Whitwick – Jamaican themed night. Meal and entertainment with Ska- waddy for £14.95. 7pm start. 10 July – Film Club at the centre – Film is The Darkest Hour. Starts at 7.30pm with doors open at 7pm. There is a charge for the raffle to cover costs. 13 July - Thringstone Soul Club at Thringstone Members club with Peter Sumner DJ. £3. 8pm start 13 July – Black Horse – Will’s Young At Heart karaoke from 9pm. 14 July – Alfi day – charity day to raise money for children’s brain tumour charity. Coalville Town Football Club. 1pm – 9pm. Live music, craft stalls, lots for the children. Hot food and licensed bar. 15 July – Festival of Archeology walk to Grace Dieu Priory with Ann. Meet at 6pm at Bull’s Head car park. Adults £3 children free. 20 July – Black Horse – Motown Motion – Motown night from 9pm. 21 and 22 July – Grace Dieu Manor –Antiques and vintage weekend. Adults £3, children free, dogs welcome. Saturday 9am-4pm, Sunday 9am – 3pm. Further details from Guildhall Fairs on 01766 831800. 22 July - Festival of Archeology walk to Grace Dieu Priory with Ann. Meet at 6pm at Bull’s Head car park. Adults £3 children free. 27 July – Beat 45s at Black Horse from 9pm. 28 July – Thringstone Members Club – Summer Soul – Special guest DJs Taff and Lee plus Jayne Lesley singing Motown classics. Ticket only event at £4 per ticket. 8pm-late. Tickets from 813531 29July- 5Aug – Heather Scarecrow Festival 4 August – Thringstone Music Festival at Charles Booth Centre. Starts at 1pm, gates open at 12 noon. Lots of music, inside and out, stalls, things for the children, food, drink and, hopefully this year, nice weather. This is a charity fund raiser for the centre. 10 Aug - Thringstone Soul Club at Thringstone Members club with Mick Sly DJ. £3. 8pm start 10 Aug – Black Horse Whitwick – karaoke night with Lainey from 9pm. 17 Aug – Freddie Mercury tribute with Joey Linden at Conny Club, Whitwick 17 Aug - Family Fun Day on Woodside Estate. All welcome. Starts at 12 noon. 4 18 and 19 August – Woodstock in Whitwick 24 August – Slime Making workshop at the centre – 1.30pm-2.30pm £8 per person which includes glitter and sequins, 3.30pm-5pm – an advanced session to include fluffy slime at £12.95 per person and 6pm-7pm for beginners at £8 per person. Tickets available at etsy.com 18-27 August – Art exhibition at the centre 1 Sept – Thringstone’s Got Talent show at the centre. 7pm start. £5 per ticket. 7 Sept - Thringstone Soul Club at Thringstone Members club with Rob Harris DJ. £3. 8pm start 8-9 Sept – Hare and Hounds beer festival, opens 11am with live music and entertainment. 14 Sept – Conny Club- Adele tribute with Lareena Mitchell. Tickets £5, members £3. Starts at 9pm. 15 Sept – Hello Heritage at the centre. 12 noon until 5pm. 29 Sept – Evening of Mediumship at Century Theatre with Gareth Lewis and Craig Morris. Ticket prices yet to be advised. 29 Sept – Conny Club, Whitwick- Elvis Tribute with Dean Craig. Starts 9pm. 11 Oct – Gin tasting event at Charles Booth Centre. More details nearer the time. 12 Oct – Film night at centre showing film of the life of Roseia de Verdun (Grace Dieu priory) and some other short films. 7.30pm start. More details nearer the time. 19 Oct – Abba Tribute at Whitwick Conny Club. Starts at 9pm. More details nearer the time. 9 Nov – Quiz night at the centre 11 Nov – Exhibition to commemorate the end of WW1 plus dance at the centre 11Nov – Antique and Collectors’ fair at Hermitage Leisure Centre 9am-3pm. £2. 16 Nov – Cher and Pink tribute at Whitwick Conny Club with Stacy Green. Starts at 9pm 24 Nov – Andy Kayne as Barry White at Whitwick Conny Club

History report  Feb 1977 – Stanley Frank Mellor, landlord of the Rose and Crown was taken to court by the RSPCA for cruelty to a horse kept in a field in Church Lane, Swannington. The horse was in a state of exhaustion caused by what the vet thought was worms, which was confirmed after the horse had been destroyed. The horse was also suffering from severe diarrohea. Mr and Mrs Mellor and their ex-stable lad, Henry Crammen, had been informed, and both were said to be responsible people, with other horses in their care which were all in excellent condition. The horse had been bought in foal and mare and usually wormed after being served by a stallion. They were separating the foal from its mother when the mare’s condition deteriorated. He was cleared of all charges. We believe Stan was born in 1929 in Burton on Trent and married Nancy E Herrick in Repton in 1972, although this is by no means certain. In Sept 1977 a ‘new lounge’ was opened at the Rose and Crown. Landlord Stanley Mellor and his wife Nancy had their photograph taken for the Coalville Times along with Mr Brian Eccleshall, Megan Mellor, Robert Alesbrook and Joyce Harris.  We knew that Aubrey Chapman kept the Rose and Crown in 1953, but now find, from the Coalville Times of 22 January 1954 that following celebrations on Christmas Eve 1953, Aubrey Chapman, licensee of the Rose and Crown took two Osgathorpe men, Dennis Geoffrey Freeman and Ronald Bradford to court for larceny of twelve wine and spirit glasses. They said they had taken the glasses, six each, and that they must have been drunk, as they didn’t know they had them until they got home. They had been drinking whisky on the night of the offence, and were not used to it. Bradford was fined £3 and Freeman £2.  In 1978, both the Rose and Crown and George and Dragon held an auction of harvest products with money going for their respective pensioners’ funds. A photograph in the Coalville Times of September 1978 showed both landlords, but said that the George and Dragon’s licensees were George and Gillian Street. This was incorrect. Graham Eric Street married Gillian S Bracey in Bakewell, Derbyshire in 1967. Graham died in Derby in 1998. We believed the couple separated and that Gillian moved to Woodhouse Eaves. We 5 were not, however, aware that the Street family were at the George and Dragon in 1978. We thought they came a year later.  The Retired People’s Fellowship meets at the centre, and we have now discovered they have been in existence since 1951 and using the centre since then. We believe that they the oldest remaining group at the centre still in existence.  Following on from the above, in November 1955, a journalist went along to the Retired People’s Fellowship to talk to people about their memories. Several members remembered taking bread to John Biddle’s bakery for him to bake it in his ovens at a charge of half a penny a loaf. The shop at that time was lit solely by candles. Few homes had their own mangles to take the water out of washing, and a large mangle was used by the villagers on Saturday (washing day) and they were charged 2 pence for its use. There was also talk of a Mr Twigger being the landlord at the George and Dragon, although we can find no records to substantiate this. As we stated in our Thringstone and its People book, school children were often required to work in addition to schooling, and often missed class so they could earn money for their parents. One lady who was interviewed was Eliza Smedley, wife of John Smedley of Main Street. Born Eliza White on 24 June 1878 at St Mary’s Terrace, just inside the Whitwick boundary, the youngest of 6 children, Eliza married John Smedley in 1892, and had 5 children herself. Unfortunately, 3 of these, including a daughter, Sarah, and a son John Thomas, had died by 1911. John Thomas died aged 1 in 1898 and Sarah in 1904 aged 4. Both these children were buried at St Andrew’s. This left the family with Ruth born in 1894 and Hannah born in 1902, both of whom married. Eliza told the journalist how, as a child, she had to get up early in the morning to walk to Worthington to collect watercress to sell, and remembered running with other children down to Gracedieu brook on the chance of getting halfpennies thrown to them by people attending Belton horse fair. She remembered the frequent journeys she had to make to for the collection and return of gloves, which was a welcome addition to the family income. She also remembered when she, and a group of other children, ran all the way from Thringstone to Whitwick station to get a glimpse of Irish lads who were being taken to the reformatory at Mt St Bernard. They were in the charge of Mr Maloney and Michael McCarthy. There was an official welcome for these lads who were preceded by a local band with Eliza and her companions bringing up the rear. Upon returning home, Eliza was spanked for having gone. Newspaper records confirm this having taken place on 19 July 1884, with the train arriving at 7.15. Large crowds are recorded as having gathered on the railway bridge and Whitwick Market Place to see the boys arrive. Mr McCarthy having given the 200 boys a welcome tea at his Railway Hotel in Whitwick, they then marched, with brass band under the command of Captain Hudson and staff of officers, to the reformatory. Eliza claimed to remember the general discussions locally when the Railway line was constructed between 1881 and 1882 and had thought that the children had come, with McCarthy and Maloney, direct from Ireland. Newspapers however suggest that they had in fact been housed temporarily in a hospital in Newferry, Birkenhead, but due to an outbreak of smallpox, had needed to be removed from there. Prior to that, they had been on the reformatory ship, Clarence, which had been set alight by its inmates in July 1884. In August 1885, the 200 boys were treated to a day’s outing and were marched from the reformatory with their leader Captain Hudson and their brass band, down Road, through the Market Place in Whitwick to the Railway Hotel and then to a field on Hall Lane where they played games and had refreshments at 4pm provided by Michael and Mrs McCarthy. The boys remained at Mt St Bernard until November 1885 when they were returned to the Clarence’s replacement vessel, the Royal William. Eliza and John Smedley lived for some time at 55 Main Street. He died in 1951 and she in the Market Bosworth area in 1963.  According to records, the original trustees of the Road Methodist chapel in 1863 were Thomas West, John Ward and Thomas Whitmore, all of Whitwick, William 6 Hall, Andrew Hall, Thomas King, Jacob Webster, Samuel Poxon, Hosea Haywood, Edward Capewell, Thomas Hale and William Winfield, all of Thringstone, and Hezekiah Soar of Swannington. By 1865, William Hall was the Chapel Steward, and Francis Bell the superintendant. Of the Whitwick men, Thomas West was a shoemaker from Leicester Road, there were several men named John Ward in Whitwick at the time, and 2 men called Thomas Whitmore . Hezekiah Soar was a coal miner, born in 1823 in Strelley, Nottinghamshire, who in the 1861 census is shown at the Swannington grocer’s shop with wife Ann nee Greensmith whom he married in Basford in 1843, and 6 children. He moved back to Nottinghamshire to Annesley around 1868, had another child and died on 9 January 1895. His obituary said ‘for upwards of 27 years, the faithful and trustworthy under viewer of the Annesley Colliery Co.’ Most of the men who it is said were from Thringstone actually lived outside the village. We have yet to find any information about Thomas Hale. William Hall was born about 1828 in Thringstone. He was married to Eliza nee Haines, and in 1861 was living with his wife and 7 children on Main Street. He was a coalminer. By 1871, he had had 11 children, one of whom died the following year. By 1881 he was a grocer on Talbot Street. The family seem to have moved to Quorn sometime after that but we can find no matching death records in that area. Andrew Hall was born in Swannington around 1833. In 1861, he is shown with wife Ann and daughter Jane living next to Swannington Vicarage. By 1871, he had moved to Allen Street, Hucknall and there was no mention of his daughter. After that he disappears from records Thomas King was born around 1821 in Osgathorpe. He married Elizabeth Harrison on 22 Sept 1846 in Osgathorpe, and had 8 children. In 1861 he was a carrier, living in Osgathorpe with his family and seems to have continued to live there after all his children had left home. He seems to have had several appearances in court over a variety of issues including stealing a watch and chain. After his wife died in the 1880s, he became a grazier, remarried Hannah Harrison, and died on 11 January 1893 in Osgathorpe. Jacob Webster was born around 1829 in Heather. He married Sarah Andrews in 1850, but after 1861 when the family was living at Whitwick Moor, the family disappear. Samuel Poxon was born about 1820 in Osgathorpe. Married to Hannah Whitcroft in 1847 in Barrow Upon Soar, he was a coal miner, and had 7 children. He died in 1870. Hosea Haywood was a miner born around 1831 in . In 1863 he was fined 5 shillings for being drunk in Whitwick. He lived for a while in Whitwick Moor before moving to Talbot Lane and then back to Hugglescote. He married Fanny Griffin in 1850, had 8 children and died in 1907. There is an Edward Capell on Talbot Lane in 1861 with wife Ann nee Billings and three children. He was a colliery labourer from Northamptonshire, born in 1822, and went on to have 5 children in total. We can find no details of an Edward Capewell and think the information we have refers to Capell rather than Capewell. Edward Capell died in this area in 1866. William Winfield was from Isley Walton. Born around1830 he married Martha Billings in 1859, 2 years after having a son called Joseph Winfield Billings. He lived in 1861 on Talbot Lane. The family seem to have had 7 children, and by 1881, were living on Thornborough Road. In 1900 he was fined for not sending his child to school. He died in 1908.  The Coalville Times of 3 August 1945 contains brief details of the funeral of Elizabeth Ann Ouzman, former landlady of the Railway Inn, 54 Loughborough Road, Mountsorrel, who was buried at St Andrew’s. Research has shown that this was Elizabeth Ann nee Ward, who was born on 10 October 1889 in Thringstone. The Ward family originally lived on Whitwick Moor and moved to Fern Cottage, next to the centre. Her brother, Gilbert, ran the Queen’s Head between 1929 and 1931. Elizabeth married Albert Edward Ouzman in Nottingham in 1930. He was one of 12 children of a farmer and JP of Cressy Hall, Gosberton, Lincolnshire. He was born on 3 June 1889 and died in 1951 in Leicester. After marriage, the family moved to Sutton in Ashfield, where they kept the Pot Maker’s Arms on 7 Mansfield Road. They were there in 1939. It is unclear when they left there, but subsequently, between them, they ran the Railway Inn in Mountsorrel and were there in 1945. There was an inquest report in the 23 July 1945 Nottm Evening Post which said Elizabeth had been admitted to hospital on 26 May with burns over a third of her body. The inquest was told by her husband that the fire in the copper in the washhouse had been roaring a bit, and he had put a shovel full of floor sweepings on it to slow it down a bit. When she then came out in flames, he threw 2 buckets of water over her as he could not tear off her overall or pinafore. Her husband said that they were a happy couple, and there was no truth in the rumours that she was about to obtain a separation from him. A neighbour said they had seen blue smoke coming from the washhouse and previously heard a thump which shook the doors to neighbouring properties. The neighbour said that the fireplace door to the washhouse was open but there was no smell of gunpowder. It was wondered whether the banging was coming from a neighbouring quarry. Elizabeth died at the General Hospital, Loughborough on 20 July 1945. The coroner said it was an unusual case, but entered a verdict of death from septic absorption consequent on burns, accelerated by hypostatic pneumonia. She shares her grave at St Andrew’s, which is not far from Charles Booth’s grave, with her son, William John Ouzman, who was born in this area on 11 January 1932 and died, aged 8 in 1940 in Nottinghamshire. Elizabeth left her money to her spinster sister, Sarah, who was the youngest of the Ward family.  In our minutes of Dec 2017, we spoke about trying to trace the start of Thringstone Scouts in its own right. We knew there was a scout troop in 1911 but had no names of a leader, the first leader we knew about being A Armstrong in 1916. In the Leicester Daily Post for 28 June 1910, we have read that Coalville Scouts, later joined by Thringstone Scouts, marched to Gracedieu Manor at the request of Charles Booth who joined in the scouting operations that followed, after the band, under the direction of H Wright had played several marches. They had previously all stopped off at ‘Thringstone Institute’ as the centre was called, and Thringstone Scouts was lead by scout leader L Gough. This is new information. The Melton Mercury of 1 Sept 1910 tells that in August 1910, Scout Master L Gough from Thringstone attended the inaugural meeting of the Boy Scouts Association for N W Leicestershire which was held at the Mayor’s Parlour in Loughborough Town Hall. The report talked of various camps around the district and said ‘Good work is being done in Thringstone’. A further parade and meeting at Gracedieu Manor took place in September 1910, again reported by the Melton Mercury. This should have been held at Coleorton Hall, but the illness of Mrs Abell-Smith prevented this, and Charles Booth offered his home and grounds. About 250 scouts from all over Leicestershire attended, and this included 21 scouts from Thringstone under the guidance of Scout Master L Gough. We believe this to be Lovell Gough born in 1863, son of Richard Gough and Elizabeth Roe. His mother died when he was a child, and for a while he lived with his sister Edith and brother Sidney with their grandmother, Hannah Roe, next to the Three Tuns. He then went to live with the Wilson family who lived at Three Tuns and died unmarried in 1923. Major Childers from the Leicestershire Scouts Association presided at the September 1910 event, and offered thanks to Charles Booth for allowing the parade to take place at Gracedieu, and said how sorry they were that all the Ashby Scouts were unable to attend, with them being the oldest troop in Leicestershire. Scout master Gough from Thringstone was presented with a warrant, complimented for his work with the boys, and his time and teaching in helping to form the characters of the boys.  Coalville Times - Sept 1904 – Cricket match at Gracedieu when the male servants and female servants of the manor, assisted by a few friends, took part in a game of cricket on the lawns in front of the manor. The ladies won by 67 runs to 59.  Coalville Times - May 1906 – inquest into the death of Bessie Moore of Top Shop off sales on the corner of Whitwick Moor who had been found dead in her bedroom. She had previously been the tollhouse keeper further down the lane. Thomas Moore, husband, said 8 at the inquest that his wife was 65 years of age, and that she had gone into an adjoining bedroom on the Thursday morning, and shortly afterwards he heard a fall. He found her on the floor, tried to get her back to bed, but she asked him to get a pillow and let her lie on the floor. She also asked for a drink of water and remarked that she believed she was going to die. He put a pillow under her head, fetched her water and went for Mrs Winters, and asked a man called Faulkner to call at Dr Burkitt’s house and ask for the doctor to come at once. His wife died soon afterwards. She had never complained of her heart but had sometimes had attacks of giddiness. She had not long before put her wrist out. Dr Burkett said that she had been a patient of his for 20 years and was a fairly healthy woman, except that she suffered from faintness occasionally. He’d seen her a short time before her death for blisters on her leg but nothing serious. Having examined her body after death, he concluded that death was due to syncope. Verdict natural causes. Coalville Times 23 Feb 1911 – death of Thomas Moore, husband of the above. The article said that Mr Moore had had the house on the corner of Whitwick Moor built for himself about 40 years earlier, and had lived there ever since, it having been licensed for about 38 years. He had been ill for 3 months. On 24 April 1911, the property was up for sale at an auction at the Queen’s Head. The house with outdoor beer license comprised front shop with cellar underneath, sitting room, living room, kitchen, pantry, 4 bedrooms with closet, piggery, wood trap shed, and garden containing an area of about 400 sq yds and bounded by property belonging to Thomas Carter. There was a well of hard water and soft water cistern and pump. Both Mr and Mrs Moore are buried close to the rear of the church.  Thringstone brownies – As reported in previous minutes, we were told that the first meeting of the Thringstone brownies was on 14 September 1964 and the guides on 15 September 1964, with the rainbows starting on 13 January 1992. We now find a mention of these in the Coalville Times of 23 January 1931 when there was a play organised by Mrs A Whitmill (Secretary). This was Fairyplay – Sleeping Beauty with all proceeds going to the Girl Guides Fund. The next mention is in July 1932 when the whole of the Thringstone scout, guide, brownies and cub pack went on a sports day with guide mistress for the guides being Mona Lawrence of 26 John Street, born 17 March 1910. The Brownie Captains were Misses Bailey and Farmer and the Scout Master Harry V Robinson. On 29 July 1932 it was reported that all the above were spending a week under canvas courtesy of Captain Porter at his Quaker Farm, Loughborough. Mr Robinson was listed as scoutmaster, S F Peace as assistant scout master (he resigned in Dec 1932 for business reasons), and Miss Mona Lawrence was guide captain. Other girl guides at the time were Jessie White, Sarah Smith, Hannah Holland, Evelyn Winter, C Bunting, Cissie White, Irene Davenport, Joan and Mary Whitmill, K Bunting, Iris Bancroft, M Sykes, L Bill, E Bancroft, G Brooks, E Crosen and P Bird. In Feb 1933 the guides, brownies, scouts and cubs put on Cinderella the panto at the centre. The committee involved were Mona Lawrence, guide captain, Miss Bailey as brownies captain, Miss Farmer as Assistant Brownie Captain, Henry Robinson for the scouts and Mrs Whitmill as Secretary. One of the members of the audience was Mrs Turner, Guide and Brownie Commissioner. In 1934 there was a sale of work at the centre, and there were songs and dances by the brownies under the direction of Miss Keen. September 1938, the annual flower show at Thringstone House took place, and the club’s scouts and girl guides formed a guard of honour for Mrs Booth. We have also discovered that in December 1948, in aid of funds for Thringstone Girl Guides, a bring and buy sale was organized by Mrs Bancroft and her helpers at Thringstone House. We do not know when the brownies/guides were disbanded in Thringstone. We have subsequently tried to get more information from the Guides Association. This is their reply ‘The 1927 directory holds lists of villages/towns where there are Guide Companies and Brownie Packs. Thringstone is listed as having a Guide Company in 1927 and a Brownie Pack in 1931. There are no leaders’ names. They would have been in Market Bosworth 9 Division and Coalville District. The Division Commissioner was The Hon Mrs Greenhall who actually lived in Gaddesby. Finding out when the units were disbanded would take quite a bit more time to work out from later directories and under the new GDPR rules we have to keep these locked away. In the Division Report section, appreciation was expressed to the Coalville Times for their interest in the movement and regular information highlighted in the newspaper. This obviously links with your research.’ Mona Lawrence married Kurt Leckebusch in 1938. She died on 17 July 1987 and had lived at that time at 60 Halstead Road, Mountsorrel. Her two brothers were George J Lawrence and James Lawrence, with GJ Lawrence dying in 1947 and James in 1969. She is buried at St Andrew’s in Thringstone along with her only child, Roma Margaret, who was born on 17 January 1942 in Loughborough and died on 1 September 1949 in Leicester. It was felt that maybe Mona would have had a difficult time in WW2 if her husband were German.

Council report Dave said that there is a lot of talk at the moment about the scrapping of district councils and turning these into a unitary authority with the county. It is thought this would save money. He felt that it would mean less and less people representing more and more people. He also said that the last council meeting was cancelled, but cabinet meetings continue.

Gardening and environment Bernard continues to weed, prune and maintain our existing planting

AOB Bernard wanted to know why the speeding sign had gone and why it had been placed on the humps near Melrose Rd anyway. Dave said these move about the area, were put there by county, and he had hoped it would have been nearer the school or further down Loughborough Road. There was general discussion about community speed watch, and where they are operating at the moment in the area and what powers they have. People can receive notification from the police about speeding, but a ticket cannot be issued by the community speedwatch people, as they are not police.

Next meeting is 2 August at 6.45pm at Charles Booth Centre.

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